Broken hearts and spirits are difficult to heal. There are no easy remedies and comfortable solutions. What can we do then? How can we help those most vulnerable move forward with their lives and regain some of that, often lost, love for creation? The Jesuits in the Netherlands offer us a simple symbolic gesture to walk towards the healing of broken hearts.

On Sunday, January 29th, in the Petrus Canisius church (Nijmegen, Netherlands) a monument was unveiled for the victims of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. In recent years several other churches in Flanders (Bruges, Antwerp) and The Netherlands (Maastricht, Hengelo) had lead the way.

It all started with a promise, a promise made by Provincial superior Fr. Johan Verschueren SJ to the victims of the Canisius College. With all of them there had been mediation processes and some form of compensation but Fr. Verschueren felt that a symbolic gesture was needed to finalize the mutual understanding that had grown with time.

The monument in Nijmegen is a glass fussion window by Hans Janssen, a local artist. The key word the Jesuits gave him in commissioning this work of art was 'brokenness'. The victims chose the material and the design for the work of art. Furthermore, the place where to put the piece of art was decided by them and they felt that the Canisius church, localized in the city centre of Nijmegen, would be ideal. The large number of people visiting this church to pray, light candles or buy rosaries etc., guaranteed a lasting visibility and awareness of the painful history. Even the precise spot of the monument is symbolic: it is hung in a hall, passageway between outside en inside space. This is no coincidence, since for many victims it is quite hard to enter a church building. In this way it will be accessible for everyone. “The hall was full” said Fr. Theo van Drunen SJ, one of the main organisers behind this event, “the atmosphere was very intense and the attendants were very impressed”.

“We hope that this encourages other initiatives in the Church, initiatives that heal hearts and spirits,” added Father Dardis. “This has been a small step, but with a deep meaning”

Informative note: The Superiors of the Society of Jesus in Europe and the Near East are organising a conference on the issue of Safeguarding from the 26th to the 29th of March in Hungary this year. All the provincials and participants taking part in this conference are looking forward to this event given the importance of this topic in their provinces. For more information contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.